


Mercy and Violence

by intheinkpot



Series: Whumptober 2019 [11]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Cop Hermione Granger, F/F, Forest Spirit Andromeda Black Tonks, Forest Spirit Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Forest Spirit Narcissa Black Malfoy, Forests, Gen, Gun Violence, Small Towns, The Black Sisters are Forest Spirits/Gods, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-17 04:57:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21048680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intheinkpot/pseuds/intheinkpot
Summary: Chasing a murder suspect, Hermione is injured and lost in the woods without back up - until something in the woods takes an interest in her.





	Mercy and Violence

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Lost

A breeze rustled the leaves of the tall trees overhead, and Hermione shivered, staring up at them. The forest surrounding the small town had always had an unnatural feeling to it, something ancient and aware. Some of the elders in the town spoke of the forest in spiritual terms, viewed it as a protector and provider, regardless of what the forest claimed from them in turn. It was easy, then, to see what they meant, as she lay on her back with her twisted ankle aching, the wound in her leg where a bullet had grazed her searing in agony, heart pounding from the game of cat and mouse she was losing with a murder suspect.

Hermione had always believed herself far too practical to deal with superstition. The survival of the town was through hard work and luck. The bad things that happened were the fault of people or nature - she had investigated enough homicides and missing persons to know the darkness in people’s hearts and the dangers of the forest. But right then, lost and alone and desperate, she needed to believe that the forest could give back as much as it could take.

“Please...” she whispered, choked up. “Please, help me.”

Her fingers dug into the dirt and fallen leaves. Tears stung her eyes.

“Please.”

The wind whistled through the trees. The forest was strangely quiet.

Hermione closed her eyes. “Fuck.”

She wasn’t sure how long she lay there, regaining her strength for another attempt at finding the road, when something rustled the fallen leaves near her feet. Eyes snapping open, she gasped: a black wolf with piercing grey eyes watched her from feet away.

“Shit,” she gasped, struggling to prop herself up on her elbows. Hadn’t the farmers killed the last of the wolves in the area years ago? “Shit, shit, shit.” She dragged herself away from the wolf, but her leg screamed in agony at the movement. Collapsing back to the ground, she panted through the pain.

The wolf watched her. It made no move toward her, and it’s body language did not seem threatening. Not as far as Hermione could tell, though she would never claim to be an expert at animal body language. But she knew enough of wild animals to know it was dangerous and unpredictable.

Still, she thought, it was beautiful. A thick fur coat, gorgeous eyes, an air of something powerful and ancient and _ wild _.

A crow cawed overhead. The wolf looked up, head tilted. The crow cawed again. Hermione craned her neck to look up. The crow perched on a low branch above her head and watched them with grey eyes. Hermione’s brow furrowed. She had never seen a crow with grey eyes. Was that even possible?

The crow cawed and looked deeper into the forest. The wolf growled, lips pulling back to expose the tips of its teeth. Hermione’s heart pounded. She almost didn’t hear the footsteps approaching.

The wolf turned to face Rodolphus Lestrange. Hermione’s hand flew to the gun in her holster, but Rodolphus lifted his rifle.

“Don’t,” he said. 

Hermione slowly moved her hand away from her gun. "You don't have to do this."

He eyed the wolf. "Huh. Didn't know we still had wolves here. No matter. Won't be my problem soon." He leveled his rifle. "Bet it'll even deal with the clean up for me."

The wolf snarled, stepping in front of Hermione. Rodolphus raised an eyebrow.

"Get!" he shouted. "Go away! Or you'll end up just like her!"

The wolf took a step toward him.

Something moved among the trees behind him. Something tall and antlered, something Hermione was barely sure she saw. 

Rodolphus sneered. "Have it your way then." He aimed at wolf.

An inhuman sound pierced the air, almost like a bird call but one Hermione had never heard before. Something yanked Rodolphus's feet out from under him. He dropped the rifle. An invisible force dragged him across the ground, screaming and kicking, and Hermione's heart skipped a beat.

"Shit, shit, shit," she gasped, dragging herself backwards across the ground. Her leg protested every movement, agony lancing up her leg, making her vision swim.

The wolf prowled toward her. Hermione tugged her gun from its holster and aimed at the wolf.

"Stay away!" Her voice broke with fear.

The wolf paused. Tilted its head curiously.

The crow cawed.

A breeze rustled the leaves on the forest floor, blowing toward Hermione. Her heart pounded. Someone - some_ thing _, tall and antlered, with blonde hair and a black cloak - moved from behind a tree into Hermione's line of sight. A hand, with thin fingers and thin vines wrapped around them, gestured toward the wolf. The wolf trotted over to its side. A hand curled on top of the wolf's head.

The crow fluttered down from the branches and perched atop the things antlers. Hermione's hands shook. She stared into the creature's deep blue eyes - blue like the lakes of the forest - and felt as though something ancient and immortal judged her very soul. 

She remembered then the tale her mother had told her long ago, when Hermione had been young enough to believe such things.

_ Three sister watch over the wood... _

Hermione swallowed. "Narcissa..."

The creature did not move, but Hermione felt bolder, a sense of peace almost washing over her. Narcissa, the watcher of the things helpless and underestimated, of the lakes and leaves, the dirt and the earth and the very trees themselves. The queen of the forest.

The wolf regarded Hermione with increased interest, and the crow stared with an unblinking gaze.

"Andromeda..." Hermione said to the crow. It tilted its head, keen gaze sharpening.

Andromeda, the sister of freedom and wilderness, the watcher of the birds and the clever, the scavengers and thieves of the forest who snatched their freedom to live another day any way they could.

Which meant that the wolf was...

"Bellatrix," she breathed.

The sister of predators and violence, the food chain and all its brutality. But also of loyalty and pack and survival. The guide and protector of lost souls. The claimer of them too.

Narcissa removed her hand from the top of Bellatrix's head. The wolf stalked closer.

"Please," Hermione whispered. "I need to find the road. I just need to find the road..."

The wolf skimmed its snout over her pant leg, nose brushing near her wound. She winced and shuffled back a bit.

"I'll find a way," Hermione said, determination rising. "I won't let that Lestrange bastard be the end of me. Please, just point me in the direction of the road, and I won't ask for anything else."

The wolf gazed at her for a moment. Then it moved passed her. Hermione watched it go. It stopped, looked back at it, looked ahead of it, and then stared back at her. Hermione barely dared to breathe.

"Thank you," she whispered. Then, to Narcissa, "Thank you. Thank you..."

Narcissa did not move nor speak. Hermione swallowed. She glanced back at Bellatrix, but the wolf was gone. Turning back, she saw that Narcissa and Andromeda had vanished. She was alone again.

But she knew the direction out of the woods.

Struggling to her feet, she hissed through her teeth in pain. She hoped several steps, using the trees for support as best she could, but they were too far apart and her leg buckled from the pain. Crying out, she collapsed to the forest floor. 

Gritting her teeth, she dragged herself for what felt like hours until the pain and exhaustion took its toll. _ Just some rest _ , she tried to reassure herself. _ Just some rest and I'll try again and make it home... _

As her eyes slipped closed against her will, something moved among the trees.

* * *

Something was moving her. Carrying her. Had Harry or Ron found her? But no, the footsteps didn't sound human, too soft. Silent. And the arms holding her, the chest was cradled against, were too muscled and broad. 

Her eyes fluttered open. 

The creature carrying her was terrifying and beautiful. Thick black hair, piercing grey eyes, sharp teeth, antlers sprouting from its head, a wreath of twigs around its temple. Hermione glanced down at the hands around her shoulders and knees. They were vaguely inhuman in shape, definitely unnatural in the black fur covering the backs of its hands.

Hermione looked back up into the creature's face. "Bellatrix..." she croaked.

It glanced down at her. Meeting its eyes, she felt in her bones that she had captured the forest spirit's interest. Perhaps even its affections. One day the forest would claim her, would give her its violence as it gave her its mercy now.

But today was not that day.

Her eyes slipped closed again.

* * *

Voices swam around her, out of focus and distant. 

"Hermione! Hermione. Shit. Ron, radio an ambulance, we've got - "

"It'll be okay, Hermione, we're getting you out of here."

She lay on her back on something hard and uncomfortable.

"She must have made it to the road and passed out. Fuck, if I hadn't seen that wolf at the start of the bend, I could have run her over before I knew she was there..."

"There's no wolves here, Harry, you must've seen a dog."

Someone knelt beside her. A hand touched her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Hermione. We've got you now. Help is on the way."


End file.
